Sudhir Chowdhry

Sudhir Chowdhry
PAYAL IS LOST (PAYAL KHO GAYI)
By Maheen Mirza and Shivani Taneja. Illustrations by Kanak Shashi
Eklavya and Muskaan, Bhopal, 2019, pp. 20, R75.00

The book, which is also available in Hindi, primarily targets those who are beginning to read. As the name suggests, the conflict in this story revolves around a group of friends looking for their lost friend, Payal. The nature of the plot/conflict of this story makes it an ideal read for the target audiences. Whilst being simple, the topic is intriguing enough for a child to read until the end of the book.

Another important aspect of the book is the illustrations included in it, which do possess an element of abstraction along with being evocative. The illustrations create a vague image of the written story, the details of which are more or less dependent on the reader’s imagination. As a result of this, the reader exercises his/her imagination, which is a commendable quality of the book, keeping in mind, the target audience of those learning to read. In other words, it allows visual learners or appeals to the visual sense of the readers, allowing them to sharpen their reading and comprehension skills. In this way, it is largely capable of fulfilling the purpose it is likely to be bought for.